Fixing election night delays could cost millions

WASHINGTON — Potential remedies for election night delays in D.C. might cost millions of dollars, according to elections leaders who spoke at a public hearing Tuesday.

Most recently, there was an hours-long delay in tallying votes after polls closed in the April 1 Democratic primary in D.C. The public and the media waited well into the night to learn that D.C. council member Muriel Bowser had defeated Mayor Vince Gray.

Earlier this month, D.C. elections officials said some problems with electronic voting machines may have led to the delay in reporting results.

Deborah Nichols, chairwoman of the Board of Elections, says a computer network failure was to blame on that particular night.